Customer Reviews

The Spirit of System: Lamarck and Evolutionary Biology

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This book should be read by anyone interested in life sciences. It outlines major styles of modern biological thinking about evolution. It makes a convincing case of an extraordinary influence of Lamarck writings on our today's understanding of evolution. The book is strictly scholarly. It does not follow emotional and political battles of the time. It stands neither for Lamarck nor against his work. It just gives a competent account of historical facts along with detailed interpretation suitable for understanding modern biology. Of course the facts described in this book were well known to evolutionary scholars but were not accessible to general readers. Evolutionary theorists have long determined that all major variants of Darvin's evolutionary theory were in fact influenced by and compatible with Lamarck's work. Reportedly Darwin himself has been a devoted Lamarkian (for more details see for instance Gould's The Structure of Evolutionary Theory.) Yet the popular opinion supports an idea that work of Darwinian evolutionists is in a profound disagreement with the ideas advocated and sometimes invented by Lamarck.
The author, Richard Burkhardt, masterfully navigates between gossips, reliable historical facts, and meritorious biological data. One outcome is a powerful and convincing outline of a modern understanding of evolution of biological systems. The other outcome is a convincing demonstration of survival of Lamarck's views of evolution in today's biology.
Again, if you wish to understand biology, you should read this book.

Lamarck tends to be painted as "the one who got it all wrong". This book is extremely useful in presenting not only his theory but also its context, social and historical. The text is detailed without becoming boring. No attempt is made to glorify Lamarck. Instead, the focus is firmly on giving the reader an accurate picture of how Lamarck's theoretical views on evolution came to be, and how they should be understood in relation to other views current at the time. I found the book a very refreshing read.